[EATdeadcat]

The Windows driver can be found on the iFi Audio website here: https://ifi-audio.com/downloads/

Some updates to the folks (with a brief review):
First of all, thanks for everyone's previous helps and comments, including those from ifi support.

At the beginning, I installed the ifi driver, in which no response was given (even after reboot), and then I wrote to ifi support, awaiting their solution during the weekend and holiday. Strangely, after a few reboot, the driver in the PC suddenly worked and could detect the device. So I commenced to test it via different headsets and music sources. As I used it only for a short time, I would not give much comment on the sound quality (though it sounds really great), and prefer to leave my thoughts in the future. I would just update some impressions and problems encountered at the present stage.

1. Plugging to my Asus laptop: as my pc is a gaming one (TUF series), the sound system is obviously not bad, compared to the other labtops, so the difference of my impressions on the sound output between using pc jack and hip dac is not that huge. Especially when using spotify and amazon music (though amazon claims that they use higher quality music), the difference of quality and layers of music is not very obvious, no matter between both apps or even between both devices. Yet, when I start to test my own FLAC files, especially those post-rock ones (always with many layers of sounds), the difference can be easily noticed. Listening via hip dac can really discover a clear layering of the sounds than merely plugging into my pc, but certainly back to pop songs (even in FLAC), the difference will become again more hardly noticed.

2. Gaming: so far I did not notice any lagging or delay of sound output during gaming, though I have used it only for a few hours... ...

3. Plugging to my phone: well, problem continues... if you folks did follow my seek for help before, you may know that there is problem of connecting hip dac with my phone. Fyr, my phone is sony xperia 5, and after connecting the dac to phone, there is no sound output via spotify, amazon music, google music nor "my library" function. Only listening via "sony music centre", there is a very weak music with huge amount of noise. At this moment, ifi support is working hard to solve this problem, and I would update you folks later.

4. Plugging to my Samsung tablet: it functions well for the sound output via my android tablet, so it proves that my dac isn't defective. Yet, there is still problem - sometimes when I plug it to the tablet, it will force the tab to reboot. I also wrote this technical issue to ifi support, and wish that they can resolve it soon.

5. Sound impression via plugging to Samsung tablet: there is obvious difference of sound quality output, even for spotify. Obviously, using the dac with the tablet, the music can be found much better, cleaner and with much more layers.

6. Plugging with Sennheiser mm70: difference of quality is not very easily differentiated. Besides, one more problem emerges - a hissy sound of noise can be heard via this pair of earphone (maybe it's too sensitve???). No matter I switch on the "PowerMatch" or not, noise still exists. I wrote to ifi support too, awaiting their solutions.

7. Plugging with Meze 99 Classics with 3.5mm cable: Perfect match. Sound is excellent! However, never switch on "PowerMatch"!!! Or you will experience the same noise I got via Sennheiser mm70.

8. Plugging with Meze 99 Classics with 2.5mm balanced cable: I ordered an Ibasso CA02 adapter for switching 2.5mm end to the 4.4 balanced end. Theoretically, I assume that no distortion of sound quality will exist via such adapter with both balanced ends. Well... but I don't know why... I still cannot find any difference between the balanced and unbalanced ones... (will update further after weeks of use)

to be continued...

 

[Taz777]

Just curious: as I understand, if I use hip dac via PC usb port, and turn it on after plugging in, the dac will draw the battery from PC instead of its own battery, right?

I believe that the iFi hip DAC will always ONLY use its internal battery regardless of what the manual says and regardless of whether you switch it on first before connecting it to your equipment.

 

[iFi audio]

Just curious: as I understand, if I use hip dac via PC usb port, and turn it on after plugging in, the dac will draw the battery from PC instead of its own battery, right?

That was the case in our previous products, but hip-dac relies exclusively on its battery.

 

[superuser1]

That was the case in our previous products, but hip-dac relies exclusively on its battery.

Can it charge and play at the same time or that is not possible?

 

[iFi audio]

Can it charge and play at the same time or that is not possible?

Nope. Once its battery is drained, it has to be recharged.

 

[hifirr]

I was wondering, how is hip-dac comparable in sound quality to Zen Dac? Is it pretty much the same and differences are in outputs and power? Or is hip-dac positioned below the zen and its price reflects the small form factor and having integrated battery?

I was dead set on getting the hip-dac for my DT 770 80, but since I'm never ever going to carry it in my pocket is there any point in getting it over the Zen? I understand that Zen should be fine running of my phone, without external AC power.

 

[Gioacchino]

Hi, I start by saying that at the moment I would like to avoid buying something ma, but I just ordered the sony XBA-N3 and I would like to know in the meantime if they are suitable for this type of warm headphones, and then at the moment I only listen via smartphone and tidal, I would like to know if the difference in terms of sound quality changes enormously by adding the ifi hip dac to the smartphone, if the difference is not much I would prefer to wait before taking it, but if it changes completely I will buy it immediately. I am quite new in this wonderful world and would appreciate your opinion. Thanks

 

[Taz777]

Hi, I start by saying that at the moment I would like to avoid buying something ma, but I just ordered the sony XBA-N3 and I would like to know in the meantime if they are suitable for this type of warm headphones, and then at the moment I only listen via smartphone and tidal, I would like to know if the difference in terms of sound quality changes enormously by adding the ifi hip dac to the smartphone, if the difference is not much I would prefer to wait before taking it, but if it changes completely I will buy it immediately. I am quite new in this wonderful world and would appreciate your opinion. Thanks

1. What smartphone do you have?

2. Which music playing apps do you use on your smartphone?

3. What music sources do your play - MQA, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res, local, streamed (e.g. Qobuz, TIDAL), etc?

My opinions: the thing you're really paying for is the MQA rendering capability in the iFi hip dac. You'll need the MQA decoding done in software via the TIDAL app or UAPP with the MQA add-on.

I have an iPhone XS Max and the hip dac improves the sound quality, and you need a CCK cable to interface the iPhone with the hip dac.

My LG V30+ phone, which is Android-based, sounds quite amazing on its own and I don't see much of a sound quality improvement if I use the hip dac with it. With an Android phone you can use the Android OTG cable that is supplied with the hip dac.

You also get 4.4mm balanced out on the hip dac that will generally sound better but will reduce battery life (4-5 hours in my experience). However, that is not of any use to you with your XBA-N3 IEMs as they appear to be single-ended IEMs

I would say it all depends on how good your phone is for sound quality.

 

[foto16]

I was wondering, how is hip-dac comparable in sound quality to Zen Dac? Is it pretty much the same and differences are in outputs and power? Or is hip-dac positioned below the zen and its price reflects the small form factor and having integrated battery?

I was dead set on getting the hip-dac for my DT 770 80, but since I'm never ever going to carry it in my pocket is there any point in getting it over the Zen? I understand that Zen should be fine running of my phone, without external AC power.

I'm interested in this comparison too, although I'm coming from the other direction. I just got a Zen. It will mostly sit on the desktop, but I will also move it around the house with an iPad (the iPad can drive it without external power)---I have tried this and the Zen is quite portable within the house. I don't need the speaker line out very much. However, since the Hip can also work on the desktop, what will I lose by opting for the smaller form factor of the Hip or Nano, which will also enable me to take it to trips?

By my understanding, the three (Zen, Hip, Nano) have the same level of sound quality and similar power output. The Hip's sound is reportedly too warm for certain headphones such as the Massdrop HD 6XX. Do the Zen and Nano sound noticeably cooler? Will the Zen, being a larger unit, theoretically have better sound quality? The Nano can play an charge at the same time, or bypass the battery. The Hip relies on the battery full time. Is one way better than the other? Nano doesn't have balanced out, but many people report they can't hear the difference. Nano doesn't have the bass boost button, which I don't think I will miss. But it is older and doesn't have the new filter in Firmware 5.3c, which seems to be real disadvantage.

 

[Gioacchino]

[QUOTE = "Taz777, post: 15560295, membro: 502232"]
1. Che smartphone hai?

2. Quale app per la riproduzione di musica usi sul tuo smartphone?

3. Quali fonti musicali riproducono: MQA, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res, locali, in streaming (ad es. Qobuz, TIDAL), ecc.?

Le mie opinioni: la cosa che stai davvero pagando è la capacità di rendering MQA nell'iFi hip dac. Avrai bisogno della decodifica MQA eseguita nel software tramite l'app TIDAL o UAPP con il componente aggiuntivo MQA.

Ho un iPhone XS Max e l'hip dac migliora la qualità del suono e hai bisogno di un cavo CCK per interfacciare l'iPhone con l'hip dac.

Il mio telefono LG V30 +, basato su Android, suona abbastanza sorprendente da solo e non vedo molto di un miglioramento della qualità del suono se uso l'hip dac con esso. Con un telefono Android è possibile utilizzare il cavo OTG Android fornito con l'hip dac.

Inoltre, il dac dell'anca è bilanciato di 4,4 mm, che in genere suonerà meglio ma ridurrà la durata della batteria (4-5 ore nella mia esperienza). Tuttavia, ciò non è di alcuna utilità per gli IEM XBA-N3 in quanto sembrano IEM single-ended

Direi che tutto dipende da quanto è buono il tuo telefono per la qualità del suono.
[/CITAZIONE]7

1. What smartphone do you have?

2. Which music playing apps do you use on your smartphone?

3. What music sources do your play - MQA, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res, local, streamed (e.g. Qobuz, TIDAL), etc?

My opinions: the thing you're really paying for is the MQA rendering capability in the iFi hip dac. You'll need the MQA decoding done in software via the TIDAL app or UAPP with the MQA add-on.

I have an iPhone XS Max and the hip dac improves the sound quality, and you need a CCK cable to interface the iPhone with the hip dac.

My LG V30+ phone, which is Android-based, sounds quite amazing on its own and I don't see much of a sound quality improvement if I use the hip dac with it. With an Android phone you can use the Android OTG cable that is supplied with the hip dac.

You also get 4.4mm balanced out on the hip dac that will generally sound better but will reduce battery life (4-5 hours in my experience). However, that is not of any use to you with your XBA-N3 IEMs as they appear to be single-ended IEMs

I would say it all depends on how good your phone is for sound quality.

1. What smartphone do you have?

2. Which music playing apps do you use on your smartphone?

3. What music sources do your play - MQA, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res, local, streamed (e.g. Qobuz, TIDAL), etc?

My opinions: the thing you're really paying for is the MQA rendering capability in the iFi hip dac. You'll need the MQA decoding done in software via the TIDAL app or UAPP with the MQA add-on.

I have an iPhone XS Max and the hip dac improves the sound quality, and you need a CCK cable to interface the iPhone with the hip dac.

My LG V30+ phone, which is Android-based, sounds quite amazing on its own and I don't see much of a sound quality improvement if I use the hip dac with it. With an Android phone you can use the Android OTG cable that is supplied with the hip dac.

You also get 4.4mm balanced out on the hip dac that will generally sound better but will reduce battery life (4-5 hours in my experience). However, that is not of any use to you with your XBA-N3 IEMs as they appear to be single-ended IEMs

I would say it all depends on how good your phone is for sound quality.

I forgot to write it sorry, however I have an honor 10 and as regards the sound quality of the sound is the same as my old samsung j5 but the honor has two notches less in the volume, but it does not bother me by listening at home .. I listen with tidal but most of the songs are not "master" but hi-fi, finally I didn't understand what you mean by single-ended, from tradition I can't understand

 

[Taz777]

@Gioacchino It looks like you have an Android phone. So you would use the included OTG cable to connect your phone to the iFi hip dac. Single-ended is usually a regular 3.5mm stereo jack, which I imagine is what your headphones have. The iFi hip dac has a standard 3.5mm stereo headphone output (this is known as single-ended) and a 4.4mm balanced output in which more connectors are used.

 

[Gioacchino]

However I also listen on spotify, does it make sense to take the ifi hip if I listen to spotify?

 

[Gioacchino]

However I also listen on spotify, does it make sense to take the ifi hip if I listen to spotify?

Honestly perhaps because I listen only with the smartphone and with the 1 more triple drivers, but the difference between spotify and tidal is little ...

 

[foto16]

It's possible indeed, however it's advised to not charge and listen at the same time.

Is it because this will damage the battery or affect the sound quality?

 

[vwong99]

However I also listen on spotify, does it make sense to take the ifi hip if I listen to spotify?

Spotify playback high-quality lossy files and you won't get the best of the Hip DAC for the setup.
You will get the best of the DAC if you let it process Hi-Res files (FLAC,WAV,DSD, Tidal Master etc) its own.

Hope the above clarification helps.